Kiyone's December
by Dr. Rex Greylin
Summary: Lamenting the loss of a dear friend. Rating is for scenes of violence and character death. I probably overdid the rating, but I figured better safe than sorry


Disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo is owned by Pioneer, AIC, et al. I do not own them or their characters. This is a work of fiction based off of those characters. Song lyrics owned by Linkin Park and are used without permission.

**Kiyone's December**

By: Dr. Rex Greylin

"When will you be back, Captain?" the Galaxy Police Lieutenant asked.

"I won't be gone for more than a month. Maybe a month and a half," Captain Kiyone Makibi replied as she packed her suitcase.

"But you've only been in charge at this station for a couple of weeks, ma'am," the Lieutenant said, a little confused.

"Lieutenant, when I want your opinion, I'll ask for it," Kiyone snapped. "Until then, drop it."

Kiyone paused. Maybe she was a little harsh. The man had a point. She had just received this promotion two weeks ago and still had no idea what "business as usual" was around here.

"I apologize, Lieutenant," she sighed. "I guess I'm a little stressed out right now. I must I need this vacation more than I realized."

The Lieutenant looked almost unfazed at his Commanding Officer's outburst. "No, ma'am. You're right. I was out of line. It won't happen again."

Kiyone sighed again and finished packing her two suitcases. The Lieutenant offered some help carrying them to the transport.

When they got to the spaceport he helped Kiyone check her bags and made sure she got to her terminal. After some small talk, the Lieutenant excused himself. He saluted and left, wishing her a safe trip.

Kiyone sat back and thought back to when they first met…

_Kiyone was in the Galaxy Police Headquarters cafeteria eating lunch. She couldn't have been more than 21 or 22 then. Just off of her rookie patrol. She was just assigned Yagami and was already getting a new partner. She hoped for someone of the Chief's caliber, someone she could learn a lot from. Kiyone had heard it was the Marshall's granddaughter. She should be really good._

_"Officer Makibi?" She heard a female voice behind her. When she turned, she saw a tall, tanned blonde with a tray of food standing there looking at her questioningly._

_"Yes, that's me. Who might you be?" Kiyone replied, a little unsure of herself._

_"I'm Mihoshi Kuramitsu, your new partner." The blonde saluted, nearly knocking over her tray as she did so._

_Kiyone meekly returned the salute and invited the blonde to sit before she dropped her lunch. "And please, call me 'Kiyone.'"_

_"Okay," Mihoshi said happily as she sat. "It's an honor being assigned to the force's star rookie. I'm sure I'll learn a lot from you, Ms. Kiyone."_

_As they ate, they talked. Mihoshi complimented Kiyone, stroking and inflating her ego. After they finished, Mihoshi leaned back in her chair and continued to shower adulations upon her new partner._

_Unfortunately, Mihoshi leaned too far back and tumbled over backwards, knocking the table over. Kiyone's unfinished lunch flew up into the air to land all over the startled officer._

_As Kiyone recovered from the slight shock of what just happened, Mihoshi jumped up._

_"I'm sorry, Kiyone!"_

Kiyone smiled wistfully at the memory. They had laughed about that incident for years after.

So lost in thought, she almost missed the boarding call for her shuttle. Only the final boarding call snapped her out of her reverie.

Once she boarded, Kiyone stowed her carry-on and sat down in her window seat. She used to like to watch the stars fly past, but now it was more a force of habit than anything else.

Once the shuttle was spaceborne, she reached over and laid her right hand on the cold window. She could feel the icy chill of space through the leather of the glove she wore.

Still not the same, she mused. Nine months of work, and still…

After a few minutes, Kiyone slowly removed her hand from the window and pulled a photo from her uniform jacket. As she looked at it, the memories flooded back…

Mihoshi screwed up again. She had let the legendary space pirate, Ryoko, escape one too many times and had been sent back to HQ for retraining; Kiyone wasn't expecting to see her any time soon.

_Kiyone had been assigned a new partner and they hit it off pretty well. She almost felt sorry for Mihoshi when they took Yagami back. The blubbering detective looked so pathetic, saying, "I'm sorry, Kiyone," over and over again._

_Kiyone just stood there and said good-bye._

But six months later, Kiyone was reunited with Mihoshi, who was acting less, well, "Mihoshi-esque."

That didn't last long, though. Within a matter of weeks Mihoshi was back to her old self: goofing off, neglecting her duties and generally being a pain in Kiyone's ass.

Kiyone looked out the window of her shuttle. That was what, five, maybe six, years ago. Before they met Tenchi and the rest. To her, it was as fresh as if it just happened.

Damn, I miss her. I never thought it would hurt like this, Kiyone thought before she settled down in her seat for a fitful nap.

It was a long way to Earth.

A firefight. A very hairy firefight.

_While trying to track down a drug smuggler on…Where was it…? Tau Ceti…? Mihoshi managed to draw unwanted attention from the local mob who, most decidedly, didn't appreciate two Galaxy Police officers snooping around their smuggling operation._

_"You IDIOT! How could you manage to sneeze at that particular time?" Kiyone yelled to Mihoshi over the din of blaster fire._

_"But, you know how dust gets to me, Kiyone."_

_"You knocked over the whole stack of crates we were hiding behind!"_

_"I'm sorry, Kiyone," Mihoshi yelled back as she stood up to return fire on the goons. But she never got the chance. Before she could take aim, a blaster pulse hit her square in the chest. The force of the impact knocked her off her feet and into another stack of crates behind her._

_Kiyone's eyes had a look of horror on them as she watched all this happen in slow motion._

_"MIHOSHI!" Kiyone screamed as she appeared at her partner's side. The blackened hole that was in Mihoshi's shirt was bleeding profusely. Kiyone did her best to stop the bleeding while at the same time calling in paramedics and dodging blaster fire._

_"Don't leave me, Mihoshi. Don't leave me. C'mon, hang on. The medics will be here soon. You'll be all right." Now it was Kiyone's turn to blubber._

_Mihoshi's eyes had a faraway look in them. "I'm just a little tired, Kiyone. I think I'll take a nap," she said, almost nonchalantly._

_"Don't fall asleep on me, Mihoshi! You've got to stay awake! You'll be okay," Kiyone said frantically as Mihoshi slowly closed her eyes and went limp in Kiyone's arms._

_"Mihoshi! _MIHOSHI!_"_

The paramedics managed to get Mihoshi to a hospital in time to resuscitate her. The doctors said that her body armor probably saved her life. She spent two weeks in a coma and another month recuperating. They had both received an open-ended leave after that. Three months later, they were back on duty.

That had been about six months before…_that_ day. Kiyone rolled over on the bed at Tenchi's place for what seemed like the millionth time.

Tomorrow's the day. The reason why I traveled all these light-years from HQ. The reason I …I came home, Kiyone thought as she drifted off for another night of sleep without any rest.

It was a cold, bleak December day that had decided to show itself. It had been snowing for three days and there was a few inches on the ground. The light falling snow couldn't have made a more melancholy scene as Tenchi, Ryoko and the others stood around with saddened looks. Kiyone's was the saddest.

_Mihoshi had neglected her duties again. This time she had forgotten to check the containment seals on the engines for the hundredth time._

_"How many times do I have to remind you? Those seals are there for a reason." Kiyone grilled Mihoshi as they entered the engine room to fix Mihoshi's latest goof._

_"You've already told me a dozen times in the last five minutes, Kiyone," Mihoshi whined back as she climbed into the maintenance hatch._

_For a second, Kiyone thought she smelled something funny. "Mihoshi…" Kiyone started as she reached for the blonde._

_Mihoshi cut her off with an exasperated, "I know, Kiyone. I already said that I'm sorry."  
_

_As soon as those words were out of her mouth, the world around Kiyone exploded. She was thrown across the engine bay and knocked unconscious when she hit the wall fifty feet away._

_When she came to, her head was ringing and she could feel that she was burned pretty badly. The arm that she reached for Mihoshi with almost didn't hurt, but she could see her right hand was practically burned away._

_Oh, no… Mihoshi…_

_Kiyone struggled to her feet and painfully went over to the maintenance hatch. When she got there, all she could remember was the overwhelming stench of burnt flesh._

_Just then, the medics and port officials burst in. She was bundled on a stretcher and the last thing she saw before passing out was the medics slowly pulling a sheet over Mihoshi._

"There must have been a fuel leak. I don't see how you could have missed it. I mean, I had a cold that day and _I_ caught it," Kiyone knelt and asked the small headstone they were gathered around. "How?"

"It was an accident, Kiyone," Tenchi said as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know. That's what makes it so hard to take." Kiyone removed the gloves she seemed to always wear since the accident. Her right hand looked almost normal, except for a slight, plastic-looking sheen. She ran it over the gravestone as tears welled up in her eyes. "I just wish I could take back all the mean things I said to her. All those times I yelled at her, called her names. If I could give everything up to bring her back, I would."

Kiyone slowly leaned forward and rested her head on the gravestone and started crying.

"I just feel like I missed something. I feel I should have been a better partner, a better person. I'm sorry, Mihoshi," she sobbed.

"I'm sorry."

_This is my December,_

_This is my snow covered home,_

_This is my December,_

_This is me alone._

_And I…_

_Just wish that I didn't feel like there was something I missed._

_And I…_

_Take back all the things I said to make you feel like that._

_And I…_

_Just wish that I didn't feel like there was something I missed._

_And I…_

_Take back all the things that I said to you_

"My December"

Linkin Park

Author's note/ Acknowledgements:

I got the idea to write this after I read "By Myself" by Ryokocat at the Tenchi Muyo Fanfic Archive and then listening to "My December" by Linkin Park shortly after, so I'd like to thank them for the inspiration to finally get an idea down on paper (and out to the public).

I'd also like to thank my friends and family for their comments and criticism.

Any comments/criticisms/flames can be sent to me courtesy of this site. Please keep flames civil because you get what you give.

Domo Arigato Gozaimasu, Merci Beaucoup, Danke Schoen and Thank You Very Much.


End file.
